★  Holt, Joseph

Joseph Holt

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Born:
January 6, 1807

Birthplace: Breckinridge County, Kentucky

Father:
Colonel John Washington Holt 1772 – 1838
(Buried: Holt Family Cemetery, Holt, Kentucky)​

Mother: Eleanor K. Stephens 1782 – 1871
(Buried: Holt Family Cemetery, Holt, Kentucky)​

1st Wife: Mary Harrison 1811 – 1846 – (Died of Tuberculosis)
(Buried: Hynes – Talbott Cemetery, Bardstown, Kentucky)​

2nd Wife: Margaret Wickliffe 1821 – 1860
(Buried: Bardstown City Cemetery, Bardstown, Kentucky)​

Education:

Attended St. Joseph’s College and Centre College​

Occupation before War:

Assistant Editor of Louisville Public Advertiser Newspaper
1833 – 1835: Commonwealth Attorney in Kentucky​
Attorney in Port Gibson, Natchez, and Vicksburg, Mississippi​
1857 – 1859: United States Commissioner of Patents​
1859 – 1860: United States Postmaster General​
1861: United States Secretary of U.S. War Department​

Civil War Career:

1862 – 1875: Judge Advocate General of United States Army​
Wrote the argument in supreme court against Clement Vallandigham
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1864 – 1875: Brigadier General, United States Army​
1864: Prosecuting in the court martial of Major General Fitz John Porter​
1864: Declined the office of United States Secretary of Interior​
1864: Declined the office of United States Attorney General​
1864: Considered a possible Vice-Presidential Candidate​
1865: Chief Prosecutor in the trial of the Lincoln Assassinators​

Occupation after War:

1862 – 1875: Judge Advocate General of United States Army​
1864 – 1875: Brigadier General United States Army​
1866: Issued a pamphlet Vindication of Judge Advocate General Holt From the Foul
Soldiers of Traitors, Confessed perjuries and suborners, Acting in the interest of
Jefferson Davis

Died: August 1, 1894

Place of Death: Washington, D.C.

Cause of Death:
Fracture of neck of femur caused by fall, exhaustion

Age at time of Death: 87 years old

Burial Place: Holt Family Cemetery, Holt, Kentucky

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Last edited by a moderator:
He had something to do (prosecuter I think)with the trials of Gen. Fitz-John Porter, Henry Wirz, Clement Vallandigham, and the Lincoln Conspirators. It was the actions of Holt that enabled the execution of Mary Surratt. Her plea for clemency probably would have resulted in Surratt's pardon had President Johnson seen the actual recommendation written on Mrs. Surratt's behalf. But Holt prevented Johnson from seeing the plea.
 
As J.A.G. Holt would have been responsible for the prosecution all court-martials and tribunals convened by the U.S. Army. The overwhelming majority of these would have been handled by lower ranked judge advocates. Holt handled the most important, such as the Lincoln Conspirators and Fitz John Porter, personally. In the case of Henry Wirz, Colonel Norton Chipman served as Judge Advocate though Holt delivered the prosecution's closing argument.
 
On Sept. 5, 1861, new General Ulysses S. Grant received a wire from John C. Fremont, directing him to build a fort " in the shortest possible time," on the Kentucky shore opposite Cairo, Illinois, and Bird's Point, Missouri, to be called Fort Holt, named after Joseph Holt. It housed five long-range cannons and completed a triangular shield on the upper Mississippi River to protect the North from Rebel encroachment. My 3rd great-uncle was injured there while carrying (and dropping) a large log with seven other men who were hurriedly trying to get the fortifications built. The fort was fired on on Dec. 1, by three Confederate gunboats, but other than that, the Fort seems to have been just another lonely garrison for most of the Union soldiers posted there. Does anyone know if it is still there? Any other stories about it?
 
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